Category: Special occasions

Plum or Nectarine Friands

Buttery crispy-edged mouthfuls of gorgeousness

Chilli Beef with Lime & Palm Sugar Dressing

Hot, cool, sweet, sour and crunchy – just the ticket for a balmy summer’s evening.

Spicy Sugared Nuts

Crunchy sweet and spicy – just the thing with a glass of bubbles!

Prawns & Scallops on Skewers

Sizzling and smoky prawns and bacon-wrapped scallops. Mmmmm. Now there’s a thing to serve with drinks …

Sometimes the simplest things are the best but often we don’t see them as such unless we stand back and inhale deeply. ‘Come ‘round for drinks’ just rolls off the tongue when we invite people over, but as the day approaches, it can strike fear in our hearts, not because the house needs a makeover […]

Cucumber, Salmon & Avocado Finger Sandwiches

These sandwiches make a little hot-smoked salmon go a long way.

Summer Fruit Salad with Sugared Yoghurt Cream

This dessert is a winner. Simple, quick, must be prepared ahead, and tastes fantastic.

Crusted Lamb Racks

Mmmm. Pink and juicy and heaps of flavour, these delicious little morsels of lamb are irresistible.

Labna balls

It’s easy making your own labna balls – just strain yoghurt until thick, then flavour it with dukkah, spices, herbs or edible flower petals.

Luca’s claimed this for himself!

My son Luca reckons this is the best chicken dish he has eaten – ever!

Chicken, Fig & Lemon Pies

If lining tins with pastry scares your pants off, just make one big free-form pie. It’ll taste just as good.

Moroccan Chicken

Mint and cumin, ginger, cinnamon and chilli, and almonds, prunes and figs, and, oh, chicken. This is spectacular!

Roasted Lamb Nuggets with Anchovy, Bacon & Shallot Stuffing

This one will ring all the bells – roasted lamb bursting with flavour and deliciously juicy, and so easy to carve. Makes a little lamb go a long way.

A gorgeous little lamb roast

A gorgeous little lamb roast for mum

Heart-shaped egg

For an over-the-top version, serve with bacon and tomatoes, and dust the hot egg with flakes of fresh parmesan. Bliss.

More than cute – they’re edible!

Ah yes, hippiedom, flower power, all of that, but no, actually, these flowers are for eating not sticking in a vase or around your hair. And pretty they look, too.

Pretty in pink

This is hardly a recipe, just a combination of delicious ingredients which are somehow more gorgeously decadent when combined.

Pork Cutlets with Fresh Apple Salad

At my house we all fell in love with this dish at the first mouthful. The clean acidity of apple salad mingling with crème fraîche and sweet juicy pork cutlets had us all in raptures.

Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Preserved Lemon

Preserved lemon and spices really work their magic on lamb, giving it a spicy sweetness which tastes just as good as it smells during cooking.